I would argue that there are far more people getting jobs because of who they know/are related to than because of their ethnicity. I have plenty of anectdotal examples (e.g. my classmates who are still in their first year but have post graduation jobs lined up.)

A lot of white people get jobs because of nepotism. Instead of saying to ourselves "Well, that person probably only got the job because Daddy is a doctor/lawyer," we think "Wow, that person comes from a long line of doctors/lawyers. They must be super-talented."

No, not a lot of people do. A few do. The number of legacy admits is GREATLY exagerrated on these forums, IMO.

Since we know how much AA allows "less-qualified" URM's to get into some schools, would that make you less likely to hire a black doctor or lawyer because you can't be sure they were qualified? Would it be racist do this?

I'm not advocating either side with this so don't flame me. I do want to hear what people think though.

when you're going to a doctor or lawyer, you want to decide based on the individual's reputation, not demographics. get a recommendation from people you trust.

if you're new in town and don't know who to ask for a recommendation, ask a black woman. demographically speaking, they're the least likely to be full of s**t.

Yea whateverrr. Having a black doctor as a father, I know for a fact that many racist whites talk a good game about not going to this and that minority person in xyz profession but are unsurprisingly full of it. My father broke the virtual monopoly that jewish doctors had over the medical business in the area before we arrived. Funnily enough, the majority of his patients nowadays are snooty white people who begrudge him his wealth even as they come to him because he is more personable and accessible than all the other doctors, and goes the extra mile. They like being treated like his top priority instead of [the] money-making annoyances [that they are]. As racist as they are, they're still attention-whores like most people and will pay to be cooed over by the most attentive and most professional doctor around...even if they hate that he's black and want to pretend he's not their intellectual superior by far. Billing is that much more fun for me when I know the source is an unwilling racist.

Everything I said about my dad--ditto for my equally black mom who's a lawyer with a majority white clientele now.

Are you stupid? Or just trying out big words? I would be a hypocrite if I denounced my father's patients for their snootiness even while being snooty myself. Now was my post about their snootinesss? Go back and read my post more closely before jumping the gun this time.

Maybe URMs actually do have more soft factors a lot of soft factors. A lot of URMs are very active in the community, do a lot of volunteer work, have interesting work experience and/or are speak several languages. It could be that these factors, combined with being URMs, make these candidates particularly attractive. There are no shortage of well-to-do "my daddy was a lawyer and wanted me to go too types" in law school (hence no need to try to attract such students to a given school.)